Rev. Joy Ireland – “Sabbath & the Stewardship of Time”

February 28, 2014

“There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord.” -- Leviticus 23:3

“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”…or so the saying goes. Well, it’s more than an old adage; it’s a Scriptural Truth! God’s people were never called to be solely defined by their work. They were encouraged (even expected) to celebrate. Leviticus 23:3 spells this out clearly as it institutes the Sabbath as a feast day for the Israelites…the first such celebratory day listed among other occasions. There are two significant differences between this feast day and the others described in Leviticus 23, however. First, it is the only weekly one. Second, it is the only one echoed in the Ten Commandments. No wonder it’s listed first!

Does your stewardship of time leave room for weekly “feasting”…a full day given to rest and sacred assembly? A day “of the Lord” (Lev. 23:2) that looks totally different from that which fills your other six? Every day is a gift from God, for sure. Yet it is essential for believers to realize that they will be just as accountable to God for the keeping of this sacred day each week as they will be for the work of their hearts, minds, hands, and feet on the other six days.